As many of you know we are adopting. Our original plan was to adopt from Ukraine but that will not be happening for the foreseeable future.
With a lot of prayer we began trying to adopt internationally again. We attempted to adopt from Colombia but were denied approval by the adoption committee for a specific child and decided to take a break while we planned our next move. I am always amazed at how God works in our lives because we were blessed and over joyed when we were able to be placed with a special needs little boy October 2022. He was sent to us through a facebook post by his agency and we just new that he was to be our son. Jameson Andrew “Drew” was an amazing baby boy who fought more battles than most people ever imagined. Sadly this past March our son Drew passed away at the age of 10 months.
With much prayer and consideration we have decided to move forward with working towards another international adoption in Bulgaria.
We will again be seeking a waiting child who will have some medical needs and we hope to bring him or her home very soon!
As part of our adoption process we have started a crowdfunding campaign. The total adoption cost will be close to $35,000 and we are lucky to have some of this money set aside. To help offset some of the cost we have set a goal of $10,000 to help ease the financial burden. We hope that by inviting you into this process you will consider yourself as part of the community that we hope to build around him as he grows up.
Hello everyone! I am sorry we are just now posting an update. These last two months have been so crazy! In June we were preparing and praying for the ability to travel to Bulgaria! Our prayers were answered and we received the official invitation to travel to Sofia, Bulgaria and visit Noah! We left on 6/27 and arrived home 7/9. We fell in love with our son and were so blessed to have gotten to spend 5 days with him. Since he was in an orphanage and not foster care we only saw him for 2 hours a day but we wanted every second we could get. He is a tiny little fella but he has a lot of sass and fire in there. He is so smart and has a beautiful smile! We can not wait for everyone to get to meet him!
As far as the process goes we have submitted our updated home study, I800 application and documents for our second trip over. Now it’s just a waiting game. USCIS has to approve our I800 application and then send the letter to Bulgaria. Once that happens we have to wait a month for court. When we get on the court docket we will k ow when we can expect to travel back and pick up Noah. We will have to be in Bulgaria for 12-14 days while they process his visa and other documents that make him legally ours.
Agency Fees:
This has changed up just a little but we currently owe the following:
1. Agency Fee #2- $2,500-Paid
2. FSP (Foreign Service Provider) #2 : $2,890-Paid
3. Agency Fee 3- $3,000- Paid
4. FSP #3: $1950-Paid
5. Second Trip Court Fees: $650- Paid
Total: $9,840 (not including travel for two trips) ALL PAID!!
Grants:
We applied for the Run For Rue grant and have already received that $500.
We were notified that we did not get approved for The Sparrow Foundation grant at this time.
The Associates of Home Loans of Florida Grant: applied on 3/15/24 with an expected answer by 7/1/24. -Denied
Currently we have applied for the following grants:
1. Rollstone Foundation: applied on 3/16/24 with an expected answer by 4/30/24. Approved and awarded $3,000
2. Zoe’s Rainbow: applied on 3/29/24 with an expected answer by 7/15/24. Approved and awarded $3,000
3. Help Us Adopt Foundation: applied on 3/19/24 with an expected answer by 6/30/24- Approved and awarded $5,000
5. Gift of Adoption: applied 4/29/24 with an expected answer by 5/30/24. Approved awaiting award of $3,000
6. National Adoption Foundation: applied on 4/29/24 with an expected answer by 7/1/24.
7.Adoption Hope Foundation: applied on 5/1/24 with an expected answer by 6/30/24.
We continue to fundraise through our Family Sponsorship Program (FSP) with Reese’s Rainbow. For more information please reach out to us.
Timeline:
1. Approval from USCIS: Estimated (45-75 days) Sept 2024
2. Court hearing Sept 2024
5. Bringing home our Boy/Second Travel: October 2024
To do for next month:
Continue to fundraise towards our travel fees goal of $7,000
Be watching for new summer fundraisers to be posted on our Facebook page!
It's getting closer, y’all! Prayer are appreciated as we continue to navigate this cray world that is adoption!!
Much Love,
Jennifer & Andy
Now that we have the I-800a approval we are compiling our dossier file to send to Bulgaria. Currently we have everything done and are just waiting to receive the back from Nashville from the apostille process and to our agency in Washington state. The estimated plan is for our entire file to be in Bulgaria by 5/24/24! Anyone know what is so special about that day? That would have been Mr. Drew's second birthday! God and Drew have their hands on his adoption for sure. After our file is in Bulgaria we will be planning our first trip! Estimated time to see our boy for the first time is 7-8-24! That day can not get here soon enough!
Our I-800a application has been approved!
This past month has hit us with a very unexpected surprise and change. Our adoption agency was suddenly notified that they no longer could oversee international adoptions and we had to find a new agency to take on our case. The first thing our previous worker said to us was “Noah is coming home but….” It was a very scary few days as we searched for a new agency that made us feel like we were in good hands. With that being said our new agency is Agape Adoptions and they have been amazing!
Agency Fees:
This has changed up just a little but we currently owe the following:
1. Agency Fee #2- $2,500
2. FSP (Foreign Service Provider) #2 : $2,890
3. Agency Fee 3- $3,000
4. FSP #3: $1950
5. Second Trip Court Fees: $650
Total: $9,840 (not including travel for two trips)
Completed:
1. We have completed our USCIS requirements and we are waiting on our official approval letter for our I800a application. Once that is received we will be able to send our completed dossier to Bulgaria and book our tickets to see Noah!
2. Our dossier is almost complete and should be finished by the end of the month for other documents we are waiting on to get back from various governmental agencies.
Donations/Fundraising:
For the month of April we have completed a Fun Pasta fundraiser where we raised $100!
We have a yard sale and a raffle planned for the month of May.
We continue with Just Love Coffee and they continue to support us with an ongoing fundraiser! Please use their link to purchase your favorite coffee as we continue to get 20% of all sales!!
We have started a fundraiser with Crayloa Flowers that gives us 10% of sales towards our adoption. If you plan to send flowers to anyone please check out the link on our page to order through them. They are beautiful flowers in all kinds of colors!
Grants:
We applied for the Run For Rue grant and have already received that $500.
We were notified that we did not get approved for The Sparrow Foundation grant at this time.
Currently we have applied for the following grants:
1. Rollstone Foundation: applied on 3/16/24 with an expected answer by 4/30/24.
2. Zoe’s Rainbow: applied on 3/29/24 with an expected answer by 7/15/24
3. Help Us Adopt Foundation: applied on 3/19/24 with an expected answer by 6/30/24
4. The Associates of Home Loans of Florida Grant: applied on 3/15/24 with an expected answer by 7/1/24.
5. Gift of Adoption: applied 4/29/24 with an expected answer by 5/30/24.
6. National Adoption Foundation: applied on 4/29/24 with an expected answer by 7/1/24.
7.Adoption Hope Foundation: applied on 5/1/24 with an expected answer by 6/30/24.
We continue to fundraise through our Family Sponsorship Program (FSP) with Reese’s Rainbow. For more information please reach out to us. We were so excited to see that our little one is a listed child and that he already has $2,057.50 in his fund through them that will be used towards his adoption fees! Additionally, our family grant fund with them has been blessed with $900.84 in donations to date. We can sell items online with this FSP and will continue to fundraise through them as well!
Timeline:
1. Approval from USCIS: Estimated (30-90 days) 6/14/2024
2. Submission of Dossier to Bulgaria: Estimated 6/15/24
3. Approval of Dossier: Estimated (30-45 days) 7/30/2024
4. First Travel: Estimated August 2024
5. Bringing home our Boy/Second Travel: (3-6 weeks) October 2024
To do for next month:
Continue to fundraise towards fully funded goal of $9,840!
Be watching for new summer fundraisers to be posted on our Facebook page!
It's getting closer, y’all! Prayer are appreciated as we continue to navigate this cray world that is adoption!!
Much Love,
Jennifer & Andy
P.S.
I have attached a photo of Noah! This was taken back in 11/2023 and as we progress I will continue to post photos of him to current day. Just look at that smile!
It is so hard to believe that we are getting so close to meeting our little one! This month we have been very busy with fundraisers and preparing documents.
Agency Fees:
We currently owe two fees to our adoption agency:
1. $6,485 due when we submit our dossier to Bulgaria
2. $3,750 due when we receive the official approval to travel to meet him for the first time.
Completed:
1. We received our letter that our USCIS application has been received and our fees were paid! Now we are waiting on them to send us our fingerprint appointment dates.
2. We received our apostilled documents back for our federal background checks.
Donations/Fundraising:
We have received a $1,000 donation towards our adoption fees from an individual and we were so thankful for that!
For the month of February & March we have been selling spots for our “Egg My Yard fundraiser. We ended up selling a total of 58 dozen (696) eggs! We ended with a total raised of $720 with sales and donations!!
We continue with Just Love Coffee and they continue to support us with an ongoing fundraiser! Please use their link to purchase your favorite coffee as we continue to get 20% of all sales!!
Jennifer will also be doing another vender fair at the end of the month with a sales goal of $1,000!
Grants:
We applied for the Run For Rue grant and have already received that $500.
Currently we have applied for the following grants:
1. Rollstone Foundation on 3/16/24 with an expected answer by 4/30/24
2. Zoe’s Rainbow on 3/29/24 with an expected answer by 7/15/24
3. The Sparrow Foundation on 3/13/24 with an expected answer by 4/30/24
4. Help Us Adopt Foundation on 3/19/24 with an expected answer by 6/30/24
5. The Associates of Home Loans of Florida Grant applied 3/15/24 with an expected answer by 7/1/24
We continue to fundraise through our Family Sponsorship Program (FSP) with Reese’s Rainbow. For more information please reach out to us. We were so excited to see that our little one is a listed child and that he already has $2,057.50 in his fund through them that will be used towards his adoption fees! Additionally, our family grant fund with them has been blessed with $554.84 in donations to date. We are able to sell items online with this FSP and will continue to fundraise through them as well!
Timeline:
1. Submission to USCIS: Submitted 3/16/24
2. Approval from USCIS: Estimated (30-90 days) 6/14/2024
3. Submission of Dossier to Bulgaria: Estimated 6/15/24
4. Approval of Dossier: Estimated (30-45 days) 7/30/2024
5. First Travel: Estimated August 2024
6. Bringing home our Boy/Second Travel: (3-6 weeks) October 2024
In conclusion,
So as far as money for the next month(s):
1. Agency Fee (due with dossier) $6485
2. Agency Fee (due with travel dates) $3920
Total: $10,405
Current amount collected: $1,720
To do for next month:
Continue to fundraise towards fully funded goal of $8,685!
Be watching for new summer fundraisers to be posted on our Facebook page!
We are so blessed to have each of you praying and supporting us on this journey. God is blessing us with the ability to continue to pay the majority of these fees in our own and your additional support is helping us make this adoption a reality! We continue to ask for prayers as we continue down this path!
Much Love,
Jennifer & Andy
P.S.
In honor of the 1 year since our precious Drew passes away, we wanted to share with each of you this little one’s name! We fell in love with this name and we feel it couldn’t be a better fit!
We are over the moon excited to introduce to you:
Noah James Allen
